Another victorious NATO summit, at least according to Trump. After two days of talks, trump left Brussels claiming that member nations of NATO had caved to his demands to increase defence spending and reaffirming his commitment to the alliance; “The United States’ commitment to NATO remains very strong,” Trump said. For the duration of the summit Trump berated member of ally militaries for not spending enough money on their own defense and freeloading off the U.S.. Trump went further and raised doubts as to whether or not the U.S. would come to members dense in the event of an attack. “Yesterday I let them know that I was extremely unhappy with what was happening,” Trump said, adding that, in response, European countries agreed to up their spending, “They have substantially upped their commitment and now we’re very happy and have a very, very powerful, very, very strong NATO,” he said. During the summit Trump repeatedly questioned the value of the alliance. Trump tweeted; “What good is NATO if Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy?” Merkel, who spent the majority of her young life in communist East Germany did not let Trump’s Twitter comments pass by. Merkel responded stating that she had “experienced myself a part of Germany controlled by the Soviet Union, and I’m very happy today that we are united in freedom as the Federal Republic of Germany and can thus say that we can determine our own policies and make our own decisions and that’s very good.” Trump tweeted that NATO countries “Must pay 2% of GDP IMMEDIATELY, not by 2025” and then rattled them further by privately suggesting member nations should spend 4 percent of their gross domestic product on defense — a bigger share than even the United States currently pays, according to NATO statistics.

After leaving Brussels Trump heads to the United Kingdom. Trump will have a meeting with May and an audience with Queen Elizabeth II. Trump will then head to Helsinki for a summit with Vladimir Putin.